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Dec 03rd
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Cloning

Cloning

Cloning

Dolly the sheep brought the realities of cloning into the mainstream society. Today the effects of cloning on a society are at the center of many ethical debates. Yet what is cloning? Cloning is the process known as somatic cell nuclear transfer. It is the procedure in which the nucleus which contains the DNA is removed from a human egg and replace with the nucleus (DNA) from the donor's somatic (body) cell. An electric charge stimulates the new human embryo, and the cloning process is complete. Thus, it creates an exact duplicate copy of the donor.

With this in mind, two terms have been given to human cloning even though there is really only one type.The term reproductive cloning has been used to describe when a human clone is implanted and delivered as a full term pregnancy. This type of cloning was used to create Dolly the sheep. Research, experimental or therapeutic cloning have been the terms used for the other "type". In this, the procedure is identical to the above except that this new cloned human is experimented upon in his or her first few weeks of life and then killed. Essentially, the clone is created to destroy the embryo and harvest its stem cells for research.

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Human Cloning: The Need for a Comprehensive Ban

The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity Position Paper

Human cloning is the creation of a human being whose genetic make-up is nearly identical1 to that of a currently or previously existing individual. Recent developments in animal cloning coupled with advances in human embryonic stem cell research have heightened the need for legislation on this issue. Despite their nearly identical titles, the two bills currently being considered by Congress call for markedly different policies on this critical issue. Though both seek a ban on what is being called "reproductive" cloning--in which a clonal human embryo is implanted in a woman with the intent that a cloned human being will be born--they differ dramatically with respect to what is being termed "therapeutic" cloning. This latter type of cloning involves the creation and subsequent destruction of a clonal human embryo for the purposes of scientific or medical research.23 Because the prospect of human cloning carries great potential to impact humanity in ways previously only imagined, it is exceedingly important that Congress adopt legislation that will protect society and the citizens who live in it--both now and for generations to come. To achieve this end, we believe that a comprehensive ban prohibiting both "reproductive" and "therapeutic" cloning is needed. In support of this assertion, we offer the following: Such embryonic destruction is usually carried out as a means of obtaining the embryo's "stem cells"--cells which some believe have the potential to revolutionize medicine by restoring the health of persons suffering from a variety of debilitating conditions.

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Personhood and the Pre-born

Genetic Enhancement of The Perfect Child

Whitepapers & Links - Cloning

An Overview of Human Cloning

Now that researchers have cloned a sheep, we know that producing identical genetic copies of human beings is also likely possible. The process is novel though the concept is not.

Human Cloning: The Need for a Comprehensive Ban

While most U.S. citizens support a ban on the reproductive cloning of human beings, they may or may not support a ban on "therapeutic" cloning.

Cloning, Germline Engineering, Designer Babies, and the Human Future

Barry Commoner concludes: “What the public fears is not the experimental science but the fundamentally irrational decision to let it out of the laboratory into the real world before we truly understand it.” 

Growing Clones in the Garden State

Today, the Garden State is the one place in the country where it is now expressly permissible to create, implant, and gestate a human clone--as long as you kill it either at birth or sometime soon thereafter.

Clones from Newcastle

In a move that should surprise no one, the United Kingdom’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has licensed researchers at the University of Newcastle to clone human embryos.